Flu Two siblings believed to have bird flu

BANDUNG, May.24 (JakartaPost): One of two new suspected bird flu patients from the same family in Bandung, West Java, died Tuesday, leading to speculation that a new cluster has surfaced.

The two, a 10-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man, were admitted to Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung on Monday evening, but the girl's condition worsened and she died at 2:50 p.m on Tuesday.
The siblings, residents of Cileunyi in Bandung regency, exhibited symptoms associated with bird flu and had known contact with dead chickens.

"They had high fevers and lower respiratory infections, which made it hard for them to breathe," said Djatnika, the deputy head of the hospital's bird flu team.

Blood samples taken from the two, he said, have been sent to a Health Ministry laboratory. Local tests, however, are not considered definitive and need confirmation from a World Health Organization (WHO)'s internationally accredited laboratory.

A previous bird flu cluster in West Java was identified earlier this year in Indramayu, where several members of the same family died. As well as a new one in Medan found last week, health authorities have pinpointed five bird flu clusters around the country.

But new cases of bird flu have continued to emerge. On Monday, a man from a North Sumatra village, who belonged to a bird flu cluster believed to total eight infections from one family, died. Local tests also confirmed two more bird flu infections in the country.

While the government put the total cases of bird flu here at 43, with 33 fatalities, WHO put the figure at 41 cases, with 32 fatalities.